Jeff, what do you make of the dolly hole damage? In particular the way the holes are stretched and also the repaired (welded) one? Obviously, the damage can all be worked out, but could that damage have occurred on the line somehow?

Most of your pictures show IMHO typical bottle jack (and other choices) damage from years gone by

Picture #1 though is possibly an example of factory damage if that is a round pressed in damage, divot

Often see damage at that location from the car being tied down in the rail cars but normally its not directly on the inner edge but at a angle back towards the rear as if they crossed the chains from one passenger side to attach on the drivers side (as an example) to secure the car down. This picture does not look like those examples

Have seen similar damage before, believe it was likely a result of the worker in charge of lower the unibody on to the second conveyor while lowering it down on the rearend suspension and driveline like shown in the Assembly line pictures on this site (check the 68 San Jose pictures of the body drop and the Cougar. There was a body "pad" on each side of the car at that location and looking at the picture is appears to me that there the pad includes a pin on each. The damage in the picture may be one of those pins misaligned with the dolly hole for some reason

No repairs made just yet. I've been scrubbing the many years of road grime off lately, looking for original paint & markings as I scrub. I plan on documenting the work and will post pictures, if not at this thread, in another one showing all the underbody paint found. I will try and remember to post a few here also, ones dealing with the repair of the areas I pictured earlier in this thread.

I am positive now the damage occured prior to recieving the application of body color on the assembly line. Original paint overspray found inside the weld and it is consistant with the angle of overspray angle patterns found nearby on other sections of the floorpan. As I said in an earlier post, 3 of the 4 center dowl holes were damaged. I believe Jeffs comment about being dropped missaligned could explain it. All 4 had some damage, but three were all damaged in the same sides of the holes, the welded one being the worst example.

I'm not sure if it could be related to an accident of the workers "dropping" the body wrong, or if maybe it were not completely onbolted from the rail and damaged that way somehow. I say this because there is also a peculiar damage on the inner sail panel structure, both sides, up near the roof panel like damaged while lifting the body with some sort of fixture through the back window openining, of possibly through the roof, while the roof panel was not yet installed.

Assembly line lifting knowledge of the sub-assembly is not anything I claim any knowledge of, I simply see what looks consistant to some sort of assembly line mishap or two, a mishap (or two) that my example could be the only one.

For aesthetic purposes, for dents up to 1/4" or so, you can use the 2 part bonding adhesive for corvettes. It works well and stays in place. If the area has one of the holes in it, find a socket the same size as the hole, wrap it in wax paper and insert it in the hole before applying the adhesive. The wax paper will prevent the adhesive from sticking and the socket can be removed when the dent is filled in. Usually a couple of applications takes care of it. I've done this on many cars and the material has never come off....the adhesive is very, very strong. It is available in black with black hardener from Bair's Corvette's.

Coincidently, I started this thread about 3 years ago and this is the VERY thing I will be working on this week. (Strange the thread took a hit at this time ). I have reviewed all of these ideas in my mind but hadn't read this thread since 2014 so I wen through it again, hoping something new will pop out. Still likening John's Angle best at this time. Perhaps this "Corvette" idea as a filler could prevent any breaking of the repaired areas from future lifting. I could consider this once I dolly out the damage.

Coincidently, I started this thread about 3 years ago and this is the VERY thing I will be working on this week. (Strange the thread took a hit at this time ). I have reviewed all of these ideas in my mind but hadn't read this thread since 2014 so I wen through it again, hoping something new will pop out. ...

If you choose to remove this (I would likely leave it but understand its not pretty) allot have found it easiest to open the top of the floor over the frame rail, heat and fix the dent then close up the floor after all is better